HSK 7–9 grammar · complement
程度补语3：得+不行/要命/要死
得不行／得要命／得要死 — …to death, unbearably
Pattern
+
+
+
( ) can be left out · other words may come before, between and after
How it works
These degree complements attach after 得 to say a state has reached an unbearable extreme: 累得要死 "dead tired". All three are colloquial and emphatic. They express the speaker's own suffering or delight, so they suit personal reactions rather than neutral description.
Examples
今天热得不行。
Jīntiān rè de bùxíng.
It's unbearably hot today.
我饿得要命。
Wǒ è de yàomìng.
I'm starving.
她高兴得要死。
Tā gāoxìng de yàosǐ.
She was over the moon.
See it in a story
In the app, 程度补语3：得+不行/要命/要死 is underlined wherever it appears in the stories you read, and practised with sentences from them. Free.